Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to positioning and aligning proppant containers at a well site. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods to position and align proppant containers onto stands and/or conveyors at the well site.
Description of Related Art
Hydraulic fracturing or “Tracking” has been used for decades to stimulate production from conventional oil and gas wells. In recent years, the use of fracking has increased due to the development of new drilling technology such as horizontal drilling and multi-stage fracking. Such techniques reach previously-unavailable deposits of natural gas and oil. Fracking generally includes pumping fluid into a wellbore at high pressure. Inside the wellbore, the fluid is forced into the formation being produced. When the fluid enters the formation, it fractures, or creates fissures, in the formation. Water, as well as other fluids, and some solid proppants, are then pumped into the fissures to stimulate the release of oil and gas from the formation.
By far the dominant proppant is silica sand, made up of ancient weathered quartz, the most common mineral in the Earth's continental crust. Unlike common sand, which often feels gritty when rubbed between your fingers, sand used as a proppant tends to roll to the touch as a result of its round, spherical shape and tightly-graded particle distribution. Sand quality is a function of both deposit and processing. Grain size is critical, as any given proppant should reliably fall within certain mesh ranges, subject to downhole conditions and completion design. Generally, coarser proppant allows a higher capacity due to the larger pore spaces between grains. This type of proppant, however, may break down or crush more readily under stress due to the relatively fewer grain-to-grain contact points to bear the stress often incurred in deep oil- and gas-bearing formations.
During fracking operations, workers may transport containers holding the proppant between rail cars, trucks, staging areas, or the like and stands or container holders. For example, work vehicles (e.g., cranes, fork lifts, etc.) may be used to transport the containers between different locations at the work site. Often, renting and/or purchasing the equipment for transporting and moving the containers is expensive, therefore, efficiency with transportation and movement is desirable to decrease costs for owners and operators. Typically, the stands or container holders include protruding features (e.g., fasteners, protrusions, etc.) that align with corresponding recessed features of the containers to secure and align the containers on the stands or holders. However, aligning the respective features may be time consuming and difficult for workers using large equipment, where visibility of the features on the stands or containers may be decreased. It is now recognized that improvements for positioning containers onto the stands or holders is desirable.